As women compete more in sporting events, or participate more in the leisure time activity of jogging, the construction of brassieres to be used during such times has become increasingly important. Most of the brassieres of the prior art are provided with shaped cups to form and shape the breasts. While this may be desirable from a standpoint of appearance, this does not provide the best type of support when engaged in sporting activities. Further, because of the hardware and/or seams required in the brassiere to create the cups and form, as the breasts move during exercise, chafing is experienced with such a brassiere, making it extremely uncomfortable for use during the referenced leisure time activities. More recently, as the problems of the brassieres of the prior art in sporting activities have become recognized, some brassieres have been made without cups which act, generally, to bind the breasts against the body during sporting activities. Even these, however, as illustrated by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,174,717 and 4,311,150. Schreiber et al., have certain disadvantages. In particular, they are formed with side panels which not only provide for an additional area of stitching, which provides for an additional area of chafing and irritation, but also preclude the full effect of the brassiere in binding the breasts against the body.
The present invention is directed to a brassiere construction, particularly for use in sporting activities, which provides firm support for the breasts and avoids the irritation and chafing experienced with the brassiere constructions of the prior art.